The Hindi word ‘Guru’ is believed to be
derived from Sanskrit. Wiktionary says that
it is from Hindi गुरू (guru) / Urdu گرو (guru),
from Sanskrit गुरु (gurú, “venerable,
respectable”), originally "heavy" and in this sense cognate to
English grieve. (A traditional etymology based on the Advaya Taraka Upanishad (line 16)[1]describes
the syllables gu as 'darkness' and ru as
'destroyer', thus meaning "one who destroys/dispels darkness
Now
we may examine both views in depth. If both views are correct, we should be able to
find other Sanskrit words containing ‘gu’ for ‘darkness’ or ru for ‘destroyer’.Similarly
we find no supporting words for ‘heavy’ also either in Sanskrit or Hindi.
The Tamil word ‘kuru’ means ‘small particles’ and is
extensively used in everyday usage.”Kuru man’(குருமண் )means’fine sand’ and this word
is cognate to Greek ‘krume’ and English’gravel’. Ear wax is called ‘Kathu
Kurumi’.’Kurunai ’ is ‘small broken pieces of rice’ in TL.Prickly heat blisters
are called ‘Ver Kuru’ in TL.’Kurugia’ is ‘small’ used in the sense of ‘narrow’.
‘Kuruni’ is a measure of a small piece of land.‘Kuru mannar’ is a King for small
territory.
‘Kuru’in TL also takes an extended meaning of’minute ie,very small’.Thus
‘Kurunathan’ a common Tamil name ,means ‘Master of any subject, who knows it to
the minute level’. So teacher is called a ‘Kuru’ shortened form
of‘Kurunathan’This TL word got into
Sanskrit and became’Guru’in Sanskrit.
Apart from the clear
meaning, the presence of ample no of
supporting words in Tamil indicates that the most probable and acceptable root
for ‘Guru’ is Tamil ‘Kuru’(குரு ) only.The presently accepted view mentioned above cannot be correct in the absence of any supporting evidence.
